---
node: na_clovis
type: event
slug: clovis_culture
title: "Clovis culture"
lead: "The Clovis culture was an early Paleo-Indian tradition, long thought to represent the first widespread people of the Americas, around 13,000 years ago. It is defined by its distinctive fluted stone spear points."
published: 2026-07-13
updated: 2026-07-13
image_file: clovis_culture.jpg
image_source: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Clovis_point,_11500-9000_BC,_Sevier_County,_Utah,_chert_-_Natural_History_Museum_of_Utah_-_DSC07376.JPG"
image_author: "Daderot"
image_license: "CC0"
---

## What happened

Named for finds near Clovis, New Mexico, the culture is known from fluted projectile points used to hunt large Ice Age game across much of North America. Its remains appear over a wide area within a few centuries.

## Background

Clovis flourished as the last Ice Age waned and megafauna such as mammoths still roamed. For decades the Clovis-first model held that these were the earliest Americans.

## Consequences

Pre-Clovis sites such as Monte Verde have since shown that people arrived earlier, overturning the Clovis-first model. Clovis remains a landmark of early American archaeology all the same.